Easy. We may not be able to make the right decision about what is the right thing to do. Our actions to put things right by doing the right thing may then rightly cause us to be left with a feeling that it is impossible to do the right thing, even though we have every intention of putting things right.Ursula Nixon, Bodalla, NSW, Australia

• As Isaac Newton might have said: "For every right thing, there is an equal and opposite wrong thing." The wrong things get more media attention.Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia

• Because it is always exciting doing more of the left thing!Dick Hedges, Nairobi, Kenya

• Because we are human and therefore fallible. As Oscar Wilde observed: "We can resist anything except temptation."Margaret Wilkes, Perth, Western Australia

• Because when we do it right, no one ever remembers; when we do it wrong, no one ever forgets.Avril Taylor, Dundas, Ontario, Canada

• It all depends on who decides what's the right thing and what's wrong.David Isaacs, Sydney, Australia

• Speak for yourself, mate!David Ross, Karlsruhe, Germany

The land called Canadia

Why do more than a quarter of countries and US states have names that end in the letter "a"?

It supposedly helps those who are both lexically and geographically challenged, such as George W Bush, to remember correctly where they are at any given time. That this does not always work is demonstrated by the recent visit of Australian prime minister Tony Abbott to a land of his own creation, which he called Canadia.

• "A" is seen as an investment. The high-credit rating which Iowa currently enjoys must be credited in part to its forefathers' choice of the suffix "a" over "u".David Tucker, Halle, Germany

• Because the Latin roots of history told us that places are feminine.Leah Agnor, London, UK

• They're emulating the continents, all of which both begin and end with "a": Africa, Asia, Australia, Antarctica, America. (Europe, of course, is a mere peninsula.)Stephen Warren, Seattle, Washington, US

• Blame it on the Romans, who did it consistently all over Europe.Joan Dawson, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

A question of clientele

Who is of more value to society: prostitutes or politicians?

This is like asking whether pedicurists or politicians are of greater value. How can this be measured? Prostitutes and pedicurists are likely to be more highly valued by their private clientele than politicians are by a very disparate public.Elizabeth Jones, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Passed and then passed over

If you could pass any law for the common good, what would it be?

Redundant. Immanuel Kant suggested: "Live your life as though your every act were to become universal law." There have been plenty of laws for the common good passed, and passed over.Donna Samoyloff, Toronto, Canada